The original development of the automobile as a means of transportation was understandably focused upon the solution of a plethora of physical and mechanical problems associated with perfection of the machine's capability, function, convenience, durability, flexibility and the like. Throughout this development, part of the effort has been directed to diversification of the vehicle itself, which has led to four-wheel drive vehicles, recreational vehicles, dune buggies, tractor trailer trucks, forklift trucks, tractors, etc. Even today, the principal concern of some automotive designers who are now more directed to matters of aesthetics and style, must be limited to that which will have broad based appeal to the mass market. There is thus left to others the design of vehicle accessories that serve to customize a substantially standardized mass market product.
The American vehicle market clearly remains the largest in the world, and is made up of people who pride themselves in their individualism and possess sufficient disposable income to customize their vehicles at sometimes substantial expense according to their tastes and social environment. This, in turn, has led to the development of a large vehicle accessory aftermarket aimed at those who seek to individualize their vehicles with accessories that are relatively novel compared to the substantially standardized mass market product offered by the vehicle manufacturers.
One goal of the vehicle accessory aftermarket designer is to adapt new developments in other fields to use in or with vehicles. This often necessarily involves simplification or miniaturization because of the size, weight, space or other limitations imposed by vehicular use. The present invention involves just such simplification. Prior art devices from other fields of use of the type here disclosed are complex, unnecessarily flexible, expensive, and inappropriate to use within an automobile or similar vehicles because of safety considerations and legal prohibitions. And, while a changed use of a known structure does not normally provide grounds for patentability, simplification of prior art devices certainly does provide such grounds.
The present invention comprises a cover to be used over a pre-existing vehicular speaker such as employed with radio, cassette tape, or compact disc sound systems that are normally already installed in the vehicle. In any event, the present invention is to be added to such systems and does not include the speaker itself, contrary to most of the prior art. Integral with the cover of the present invention are a very simple circuit and a series of lights illuminated in a certain sequence by the circuit, in which lighting means are preferably visible through the material from which the cover is made only when illuminated. The principal element of the cover structure is a frame circumscribing the speaker itself, which is preferably fabricated from a translucent material through which the light emitted is at least in part transmitted, but which hides the lighting means as well as their mountings and the miniature circuit disposed in the frame. The sequence in which the lights are illuminated and the intensity of the illumination, are not flexible, being fixed by the circuit and independent of sound related parameters such as amplitude or frequency. That is, illumination of the lights is not affected in any respect by the sound passing through the speaker or its volume. These are significant facts because traffic laws in most states prohibit brightly flashing lights visible from the vehicle exterior, and safety considerations require that decorative or novelty lighting must not interfere with visibility, particularly for night driving when the potential for interference is the greatest.
Lighting means in the present invention may be low intensity light bulbs, light emitting diodes, or the like which are disposed in a series of discrete locations about the circumference of the speaker. Each of the lighting means are in electrical communication with the circuit which is designed to illuminate the lighting means in sequence to create the effect of light moving about the circumference of the speaker. The circuit design is such that two individual lighting means on opposite sides of the circumference are illuminated at any given moment in time and are extinguished as the next lighting means adjoining them are illuminated, to create the effect of two lights rotating about the circumference of the speaker, directly opposite each other, but in the same direction. The speed of rotation is fixed by the circuit and bears no relationship to sound emanating from the speaker. These and other characteristics of the invention described herein differ significantly from the prior art as will be seen from the following discussion.
Prominent among the several prior art references that combine speakers with lights is the disco light assembly patented by Smith, U.S. Pat. No. 4,389,598, which allows illumination of a multiplicity of individual electric lamps formed in any appropriate configuration and which are illuminated in any desired sequence in response to a disco beat. This reference includes ten (10) drawing figures, most of which involve circuit diagrams of considerable complexity, and consequent expense. One interesting feature of this reference is the provision for placing the electric lamps in a ring configuration which can be controlled so that the effect of a single lamp traveling around the ring at high speed can be produced with no mechanical motion. This one feature of the Smith reference bears similarity to the present invention, although two (2) opposing points of light are utilized with the present invention, but the Smith invention is extremely complex, and is, therefore, inappropriate for vehicular use for the reason above-described. The disclosure is also for a plurality of other purposes inappropriate to vehicular use and is extremely expensive when compared to the present invention. See, for example, FIG. 10 thereof.
Another reference of some interest is British Pat. No. 2,155,797 A by Liano for a loud speaker with light emitting means. It should be noted at the outset, that although the present invention is intended for use with the speaker, it does not include the speaker which must be preexisting. The present invention is more in the nature of a speaker cover with included circuit that is a retrofit, since it is functionally independent of the speaker. The application of Liano is one of numerous prior art inventions which coupled the speaker audio signal to the illumination output. These devices are frequently used in disco applications so that light and sound are emitted in a predetermined relationship. Another distinction with the application of Liano is that the present invention utilizes a far more simplified circuit than does Liano and that circuit is mounted on the retrofitable speaker cover so that it is readily separable from the speaker itself.
A further example of this type of device coupling visual and audible output is that taught by British Pat. No. 1,248,821 issued to Phillips, concerning an entertainment device. The latter reference teaches an apparatus which reproduces sound electrically and utilizes electrical impulses accompanying such reproduction to achieve animation of light reflecting objects onto which a light beam is projected, whereby moving reflections from such moving or animated objects are formed on a surface such as a screen, a wall of a room, or any other suitable medium. A visual representation of the tempo of the music is presented thereby.
Another such device is taught by Nakamatsu, Japanese Pat. No. 60-259086(A) for rainbow lighting equipment in which a display section lighting with luminescence and color depends on the sound volume and sound quality produced.
An early version of the coupling of sound producing apparatus in combination with lighting is contained in a disclosure of Craig, U.S. Pat. No. 1,790,903, which teaches the coupling of a radio loudspeaker with correspondingly colored lights displayed to the listeners.
Another such disclosure is in French Pat. No. 78 02603, issued to Jaeger which is housed in a loudspeaker cabinet and is provided with a number of lamps, the current to which is varied in accordance with recorded sounds to give a variety of visual decorative effects.
A further reference is an article concerning disco lights described in a British publication, Elektor, dated September 1975, Volume 1, No. 6, pp 924-926, which describes psychedelic flashing light displays using logic shift registers. The circuits in this device are also more complex than that disclosed in the present invention and the sequencing of the lights is completely different than that of the present invention.
Two other references of even lesser relevance are U.S. Pat. No. 2,501,968 to Sasson which describes a speaker and light in a common structure for installation in the ceiling of a car, but with the light being simply a dome light having no relevance to the sound and not flashing, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,297,907 issued to Miller which is for an illuminated cabinet of the type adapted for a jukebox.
None of the foregoing references either individually or in any combination teach the structure of the present invention whose beauty is in its simplicity.
Bearing in mind the foregoing, it is a principal object of the invention to provide a rotating light circuit and speaker cover which can be added to a pre-existing speaker as a decorative accessory to a vehicle.
A related object of the invention is to provide such an accessory which customizes the interior of a vehicle in a unique way without violating safety laws concerning flashing lights or impairing visibility.
Another object of the invention is to provide a vehicular speaker cover which contains a circuit disposed therein to eliminate considerations of placement of such a circuit, thereby simplifying it and standardizing installation.
A further object of the invention is to provide a rotating light circuit and speaker cover that is inexpensive to manufacture and reliable in use.
One more object of the invention is to provide such a vehicular accessory which includes two rotating points of light opposed to each other, the rotational speed of which is fixed by the circuit and independent of audio output.
A related object of the invention is to achieve the preceding object with light frequency and intensity that is also independent of audio output from the speaker.
An additional object of the invention is to provide a vehicular accessory in the form of a speaker cover that creates a rotating light effect, but wherein the lighting means are disposed within the cover and are not visible except when each such lighting means are illuminated as a consequence of the cover being fabricated from a translucent material.
A further object of the invention is to provide a rotating light circuit and speaker cover which provides the attractiveness of the addition of lighting effects to sound output, such as used in disco applications, but with the lighting output independent of the sound output and with minimal expense.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon review of the following descriptions, the accompanying drawings, and appended claims.